Friday, May 31, 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

This is a photo-shopped image of what will be a new pro-life effort in Halifax. Some of us from the 40 Days vigil have been talking about raising public awareness on this issue.

The witness to life is infrequent and not terribly effective. What witness we do present is usually to those who agree with us, "preaching to the choir" as they say, and those who oppose us are often quite aggressive and hostile. We felt there must be a different way to present our message.

So we talked about putting up billboards and bus shelter ads and ads on the buses themselves. Even if people don't like our message, they will still see it and I believe that it will be like casting seeds. Some will fall by the wayside, some will fall on rocky soil, but some will fall on good soil and will take root. Those are the people we are hoping to reach.

This is all about changing hearts and minds with positive images, that are accompanied with a challenging message.

The photo above was given to us by a professional photographer, it is his own son Luc.
You can visit his website at

Beautiful photos there, this is his son Luc Gabriel who is now about four months old. The words are (in case they are too small for you to read) Luc was born today, but his life began nine months ago.

I can't wait for this project to get realised. All we need now is money! yes, the finances to put up the photos. Once we put up this first sign, we have a second sign ready to go, all depending upon the financial resources.

If you are interested in helping out, you can donate to us by sending a cheque to
Signs for Life
2635 Dublin Street
Halifax, NS
B3L 3J6

I am so excited about this, that I just had to share it with you. Please spread the word. Things are going to happen in this city, despite all the apathy that exists here, despite the strong vocal pro-choice group that permeates this town, despite the very feminist attitude that exists here. Beautiful babies and words to penetrate people's consciences will win the day. Truth will win.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I don't think it is a coincidence that Henry Morgentaler has died the day after the New Brunswick court case was decided against him. For years he had tried to get NB to pay for abortions that were performed in his private clinic.

I have seen that very clinic in Fredericton when I was invited to speak at the 2011 March for Life in NB. The NB Right to Life group is right next door to Morgentaler's clinic there. They almost share a wall, with the one establishment terminating "unwanted" babies, while in the house next door, women are supported in their choice to have their baby.

I have to confess I don't have any sympathy for Morgentaler. And I can't even bring myself to say "Lord have mercy" upon him. Because I believe that God is both just and merciful, and He has already decided where Henry Morgentaler will spend eternity. At this point, my prayer is useless.

What I do find incredibly tragic is the number of women who are singing his praises and thanking him for what he did for women's rights in Canada. If they only knew the truth, they would realise what a complete reversal of truth such thoughts are. Lord have mercy upon them.

For Peter Ryan's statement on the passing of Henry Morgentaler, click here

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Dear Editor, Regarding Mary Kenny's article ‘What Sweden can teach in the abortion debate’ (IC 2/5/13), I would like to offer what Canada can teach Ireland. I am visiting your fine country from Canada and am very active in Canada's abortion debate there. In 1988 Canada's abortion law was struck down by our Supreme Court. Before 1988 our law was similar to what Sweden had, i.e. a woman had to go in front of a therapeutic abortion committee of doctors, to get its approval, based on physical or mental well-being of the mother. Since then Canada has never enacted any replacement legislation. This means it is legal for abortions to occur for any reason, for no reason, for the entire nine months of pregnancy. Since Canada has a publicly paid health care system, all abortions are also fully funded by the taxpayer.Canada has at least 100,000 reported abortions (we know there are more than this number because abortions performed in private physicians’ offices are not reported, and not all clinics report their abortions either) every year in a country of about 35 million. That's a lot of babies killed in order to honour women's so-called ‘reproductive rights’. In Canada there is no such thing as foetal rights.Abortions are performed in all provinces (except Prince Edward Island) in many hospitals and in free standing clinics all across the country. We have a very vocal and extreme abortion lobby in Canada who continually lobby our Members of Parliament and our Prime Minister Stephen Harper to ensure that any legislation limiting abortion always fails.If Ireland heads down the same path and allows exceptions for abortions, it is only a matter of time before you may find yourself in the same situation: abortion on demand. Please don't let this happen; it is very difficult to turn the clock back as well known in Canada.Patricia MaloneyOttawa, Canada

Friday, May 24, 2013

During my time at Albany Medical Center I managed hundreds of such cases by “terminating”pregnancies to save mother’s lives. In all those hundreds of cases, the number of unborn children that I had to deliberately kill was zero.

Dr. Anthony Levatino, an OBGYN who has also performed 1200 abortions, states before Congress that abortion is not necessary to save a woman's life; in fact, an abortion cannot be performed quickly enough in some cases. However, performing a Caesarean section on the mother does save her life and, in most cases, the baby also survives.

With the new revelations of another abortionist in Houston Texas, the public are being exposed to yet more horrors of abortions gone wrong. Abortions that end in infanticide. Soon people are going to have to see that the difference of a few inches from inside the mother to outside makes no difference to the baby - in both cases, it dies.

This latest investigation reveals that 3-4 babies were born alive each day, and former clinic staff testify to the doctor's slitting throats, and in some cases, twisting heads off babies to kill them.

As one journalist explained, the reason the press didn't cover the Gosnell case is because it showed the pro-choice position in an unfavourable light. As pro-lifers have been saying for quite some time now, there is no favourable light to be shed on abortion.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. - Ephesians 5:11

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Yet still loved. The recent escape of Amanda Berry from a decade-long imprisonment by Ariel Castro reveals the sobering truth: that a child conceived in rape can still be loved by her mother. Experts are even saying that it is Amanda's maternal instinct that gave her the will and determination to escape from the boarded-up house she was held in. She wouldn't let go of her little girl, as she came out. A little girl whose father is the man-turned-monster Ariel Castro.

One victim of Castro has not said much and speculation abounds as to why she has not contacted family yet. It turns out that Michelle Knight, the first victim to be imprisoned by Castro, was herself the prior victim of a gang rape and she had a child by that rape. Her son was taken from her when he was two, perhaps because of a custody dispute with her family.

Michelle is now asking to be reunited with her son, who is now thirteen years old.

The power of a mother's love. It makes one question whether abortion is really a solution for a woman who has been raped. These two women's stories show otherwise.

Our learning to understand, as a society, that it is natural for Michelle to desire a relationship with her child conceived in rape is an important part of healing for Michelle and others like her. Women like Michelle fall through the cracks that we fashion with our pickaxes in the law when we say that abortion should be an option for raped women “because it’s natural for a woman not to desire that child.” We have failed as a society to understand that it is natural for Michelle to desire that relationship. Attitudes like this bring about the lack of support that resulted in Michelle’s child being taken from her. It is time for us to heal the cracks that women like Michelle, and their children, fall through – cracks that are made by those who advocate for abortion in cases of rape. -

Sunday, May 12, 2013

A simple prayer card with a picture of the Holy Family. There was something about the sleeping child on Mary's shoulder that caught my attention. A child like this is completely at repose, fully trustful of the person who is holding them.

To think that God put his own son into the hands of a human being, a woman, and gave him to her in complete trust. This woman would give birth to him, nurse him, teach him to walk, teach him to talk, and shape him in his human character. And the ever present Joseph about whom we don't know much. But just think, this boy Jesus would probably hold his food the same way that Joseph did, he would certainly work with wood in the same way, and he would even speak with the same accent and tone of voice.

For Jesus must have resembled Joseph: in his way of working, in the features of his character, in his way of speaking. Jesus' realism, his eye for detail, the way he sat at table and broke bread, his preference for using everyday situations to give doctrine - all this reflects his childhood and the influence of Joseph. -Blessed Jose Maria Escriva

A woman whom God trusted with the entire care of his own son. A man whom God trusted to care for both the mother and the child.

When we get a sense of this mystery, we begin to understand God's plan for our salvation is based on the family. Even God provided a human family for his son.

The other day, while driving, I had the radio on. Usually I listen to talk radio (95.7 FM in Halifax) but the usual discussion of inept city government followed by phone-ins from callers who have nothing better to do, just wasn't the ticket that morning.

So I flipped to the Christian channel (CJLU - 93.9 FM) and caught an interesting interview on Focus on the Family. The woman being interviewed was Erin Davis, a young mother of two and expecting #3.

She spoke of how she had not wanted to become a mother, but that she had felt called to ministry in her church, particularly youth ministry. Having children, she thought, would interfere with that. So she and her husband gave their lives over to what they felt they were called to do. Until she found out she was pregnant. And then her thinking began to change.

The transformation was gradual but profound. And she now writes about motherhood, about how reading stories, bathing toddlers, wiping noses are now her ministry. Instead of being active in the church, she now barely gets there on time, dragging her little brood behind her.

This all sounds pretty nice, but not very exciting. Until I heard her say that young Christian couples pray about everything, what job to have, where to live, what service to give, but rarely (and she admits she and her husband NEVER) prayed about what children God might want them to have.

This is the one area that so many Christians will not surrender to the Lord. And yet how incredibly important! How do we know who God wants to bring into the world? And how can they come here if we don't cooperate?

It is so refreshing to hear this spoken about. Erin said that she has read and reread the Scriptures and she doesn't think that they condemn family planning or contraception but God certainly does consider children a blessing. And having many children is considered to be God's plan, not just having one or two.

This all ties in with three talks I heard yesterday from Patrick Coffin of www.Catholicanswers.org
in which he explained the Catholic church's teaching on contraception. I think Erin would have enjoyed the talks. While I do agree with Patrick that the Scriptures do speak against contraception, I am so glad to know that our brothers and sisters in the evangelical Christian churches are also beginning to question the prosperity Gospel of mom, dad, two kids, nice home and middle class lifestyle. There is so much more for families than what the cultural attitude holds out.

The only disturbance that we experienced occurred at the very end of Father Rob's talk, as he was praying for all of us, including those who are not open to hear about the sanctity of life. A young man and woman walked right through the middle of the crowd, and you can hear what the young woman had to say. As Father Rob concluded, "sometimes God's timing is even better than our own".

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Joyce Arthur, head of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada thinks that it is Mr. Woodworth who doesn't "get" the picture.

“He doesn’t seem to recognize that at all,” said Arthur. “When I bring up women’s rights over and over again, he thinks it’s some sort of sideshow. He doesn’t really get the issue, so what’s the point of talking about it with him?”

Kelly McParland writes a fine article, he is obviously pro-life, but since when does that mean that one is not a logical thinker? It would seem to me that logic is on the side of those who wish to protect life, rather than on the side of those who see the covering of a mother's body as the only difference between life worth protecting and life that can be killed at will.

Kudos to Stephen Woodworth, the Canadian misogynist Member of Parliament. You have the support of many women, who see themselves as participants in the great drama of life, rather than as the protagonists who get to call the shots for others.

And thank you to Kelly McParland, and others at the National Post, who are making public the debate on abortion, even if our Parliament won't.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

The trial of Kermit Gosnell continues. All the arguments for the prosecution have been heard; oddly enough, the defense called no witnesses and did not call Gosnell to the witness stand. So he is relying solely on his closing argument to sway the jury's decision.

His case is that this is blatant racism; that Gosnell is being tried because he simply did what Roe v Wade permitted, that abortion when it is done for poor minority women will look ugly - what else do you expect?

Fox News presented a one-hour documentary last night called See No Evil - you can view a 10 minute trailer of the show here.

One statement I have heard from pro-choice supporters is that Gosnell shows exactly what happens when women don't have access to safe hygienic conditions. They argue that it is pro-life restrictions that bring about filthy clinics like Kermit Gosnell's House of Horrors.

How disingenuous! This case shows that Roe v Wade simply legalized back alley abortions. Abortion is a dirty and horrific act; exposing Gosnell's clinic shows the public exactly what abortion is: the killing of babies, often done by people profiting off the misery of women.

The fight over abortion will not go away, even as pro-choice supporters say that the law has been decided and that we will not go back to the way things were. When life is treated so casually, as shown by Gosnell's case, one can't help but rise up in anger over the injustice being committed.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Yesterday, I went to 5:15 Mass at St. Mary's basilica in Halifax. The Mass' special intention was for a woman who died in the Philippines, her sister is a parishioner of St. Mary's. So that woman, her husband, daughter and daughter's boyfriend came and sat in front of me.

This was not a funeral Mass. It was the regular daily Mass but the priest said, at the beginning, that it would be a memorial for this woman who died suddenly, while awaiting a liver transplant. Her sister and family could not return to the Philippines for her funeral, so this was their funeral Mass in Canada.

At one point during the homily, I noticed that the young daughter (about 20 years old) was sitting with her eyes open but cast down and she never moved from that position. Whenever we stood up, she took her purse off her lap and put it on the pew behind her. But whenever we sat down, she picked the purse up, put it on her lap and resumed the eyes down, very still but at attention, pose. And then I realised what she was doing. She was on her phone and it was hidden in her bag!

My first reaction was to get really mad. After all, this Mass was for her aunt who had just died, and she couldn't even stop texting or whatever she was doing for half an hour? Then I realised that getting angry was not a response that would do any good; my second response was to think that, at Communion time, if she left her purse on the seat, I would move the phone and hide it under the purse. Imagine her distress when her phone was not where she had left it?

But I knew that would backfire on me so I decided that wasn't the best course of action. I did nothing and just let it go. But I couldn't help thinking about that young woman for quite a long time afterwards. And what struck me was that people simply do not want to live in the present moment, when they are addicted to connecting to the internet. This is the newest form of escapism. What better way to remove yourself from the present reality than just to get on your phone and tune everything else out?

This is what we see everywhere now. People walking down the sidewalk and they don't even notice someone coming towards them, they are texting. Even in restaurants, you see two people at a table and one or both of them are texting someone else. The thought crossed my mind, imagine two people in bed together, just after sexual intimacy and one picks up the phone to text or check messages.